


The Art of Lying

by JazzHands



Category: Being Human, Being Human (UK)
Genre: F/M, Mild torture, Rating will change, Things will get dark and violent in later chapters, This is set before the events of series 5 and could be considered an AU, references to domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-27 23:10:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzHands/pseuds/JazzHands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He would do as he always did: grin and bear it, run a police check and then consider making the boyfriend disappear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spiraetspera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiraetspera/gifts).



> Based of a tumblr prompt by the lovely spiraetspera and posted for her.
> 
> This is also dedicated to isleepnow on tumblr whose version of Dominic Rook is still my very favourite and an inspiration for this fic.

The car journey had taken longer than expected but then that was London for you. In most cases it was simply quicker to walk or get the tube but that didn't matter to the two occupants in the car; the extra time had given them a chance to catch up and relax into a familiar routine.

“You're making it up!”

“I would never make up something like that, Tasha.” Rook pulled the car away from the traffic lights and used the pedestrians around his car to distract him from the smile threatening to appear on his pale face. “It's tradition and one that must be kept in order to protect the monarchy.”

Natasha snorted in disbelief again. “But he's just a baby! You can't be poking a baby with crosses and stuff.”

“There are creatures that piggy-back their way into our world via new-borns, as you know. Would you want to risk it happening to an heir to the throne?”

“No, I guess that makes sense...but it's still weird that you're going to be throwing holy water and shouting Latin at Will and Kate's baby.” She watched the cars around them nervously as the traffic approached the tunnel. Her hands picked at the tops of her knee-high socks as they always did when she was worried or nervous.

“You don't actually believe me, do you? I'm making it up, Tasha. I don't care what's at stake; I refuse to be within arms length of any baby.” He said it louder than necessary, added a little more emotion to his voice; anything to turn her attention towards him. It worked and he was rewarded with a slap to the arm and a half dozen expletives. Natasha's laughter filled the car and before there was any time for her to panic about the car travelling in the tunnel they were out the other side.

Rook would have taken a different route but had instead needed a distraction for the young woman next to him. He mentally congratulated himself on a job well done and relaxed a bit more into his seat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her readjusting her black socks. Keeping as much attention on the road as possible his eyes darted a few times back to her legs.

“I'll never understand your need to wear those socks. I fail to see the point of them to be honest.”

Natasha shrugged and fiddled with them again. “I like them!”

“What ever is fashionable, I suppose.”

“They keep my legs warm.” She turned in her seat and smiled at him in a way that spelt trouble. “You're welcome to slide your hand inside one to check for yourself if you like?”

He tried to keep his face blank but knew his clenched jaw and flared nostrils gave him away. She laughed. He shook his head in a disapproving manner and smirked. “And this is why, if I did have business with the Royal family, I would not take you with me.”

“I bet Prince Harry would have accepted my offer!”

Natasha watched him for a few seconds with a grin before turning back. He gave her a side-glance and shook his head again. He had gotten used to the flirting now; it was her way of pushing him and getting her own back. He knew she would keep doing it until he eventually told her to stop but then that would mean she had won and he couldn't have that.

They were not far from her flat now, another few minutes and he wouldn't see her again for a few days or weeks depending on work. He tried not to think on it too much.

“Where are you for the rest of the week?” She asked quietly as though hearing his thoughts.

“Cumbria for the most part but...who knows where I'll end up.” He didn't hide the tiredness from his voice or the sigh that hinted that maybe he would rather remain in London if he had a choice. He never worried about showing that side of himself to her. Natasha was safe.

“Well...don't do anything stupid or get hurt, yeah?”

“Hmm I always try...” He trailed off as they pulled up outside her home. “There's someone sitting on your front doorstep.”

The man couldn't have been any older than his earlier twenties. His jeans and jacket looked scruffy but even Rook recognised the brand logo as an expensive one. With a swagger the young man walked towards the car. Rook took an instant dislike to him.

“Shit. He wasn't meant to visit tonight. I told him I was seeing my family!”

“Please tell me that's not the newest boyfriend.”

“His name is Danny and please don't start.” Before Natasha had a chance to say anything further Danny had reached the car, opened her door and knelt next to her on the pavement.

Rook grimaced at the “hi babe” greeting and overly possessive kiss planted on Natasha's lip. “Please don't let me interrupt.” He revved the car and thought about reversing the vehicle back just far enough to hit the man with the car door.

Natasha pushed Danny away with an embarrassed smile and a subtle wipe across her mouth. “Stop it, not here.”

“You know you love it.” Danny's hand fell to her leg and rested just above her sock. “Hi Natasha's uncle...sorry but I didn't bother asking her your name earlier.” He smiled at Rook and gave a care-free shrug. This was no smell of alcohol on him but there was certainly something in his bloodstream to have made his eyes so large and glassy. Rook really didn't like him.

Rook raised an eyebrow and glanced at Natasha. _Uncle?_ This wasn't the first idiot she had taken a shine to and he was sure there would be others in the future. He would do as he always did: grin and bear it, run a police check and then consider making the boyfriend _disappear._

“Dominic is more like...my mum's cousin but I've always thought of him in an...uncle kind of way?” She seemed to question herself which made Rook sigh. He knew she could lie better than that. The car parked in front of his was a souped-up, bright blue monstrosity with the licence plate 'D4NN7'. He wasn't going to need to run any checks to find out who owned that car.

He nodded but didn't offer a handshake. “Nice to meet you, Danny. Natasha had mentioned you.”

“Yeah I bet she has.” Danny grinned at Natasha and tried to move his hand up her leg. She simultaneously slapped the hand away and grabbed her bag. Any chance of talking or saying goodbye was now gone. Natasha jumped out the car and waved back at Rook before pulling her moronic boyfriend away with her. Just as they reached the doorstep the younger man dropped his hand to Natasha's behind and threw a wink over his shoulder to the man still in the car. “Bye uncle Dom!”

Rook watched it all without a hint of emotion. He wondered what would be more satisfying: choking the idiot to death or bashing his head in with a hammer. “The hammer...yes, definitely the hammer.”

The front door closed and he turned away from the building, not wanting to think about what was going on inside. It wasn't his place to contemplate such things. With all thoughts of Natasha pushed from his mind, he put the car in gear and drove away from her flat.

When his phone buzzed sometime later he was still driving and feeling inexplicably morose. He normally enjoyed driving through the capital at night and couldn't fathom where his mood had come from. With a harder than necessary jab to the phone he read the text message waiting for him.

_'Sorry about earlier. He's not always like that. Don't do anything like get him arrested or something. If it doesn't work out just leave me to deal with it. please. Nx'_

Rook's snort of derision sounded ugly even to him. He shouldn't have an opinion on matters such as this. Trivialities of this nature were to be left to everyone else. He had a job to do and never enough hours in the day to do it. Natasha's love life...well, it had nothing to do with him, did it?

_'Fine but if he ever calls me 'Uncle Dom' again I WILL pour petrol over him and set him on fire.'_

“Or at the very least I'll smash up that piece of shit car of his with a hammer!” He muttered angrily to himself. Again with the hammer, always with the hammer. Rook shook his head to rid himself of such pointless thoughts. He concentrated on work; what preparation was needed for the days ahead and which members of staff should accompany him.

And if every once in a while his mind wandered to knee-high socks he refused to dwell on it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anger started to gather and cloud his mind. He should have said something to Danny at the very start, should have scared him off or involved the police; anything to get rid of him regardless of what Natasha had requested.
> 
> Rook pushed the anger down and sealed it away with everything else.

Dominic Rook released a bored sigh and checked his watch. Even in the murky light of the underground holding cell he could still make out the seconds hand ticking by. This was taking far too long and was far from illuminating on the information front.

Another scream echoed in the small space and bounced off damp, green tiles. The scream broke off into begging. The shirtless vampire currently chained to a metal gurney twisted and convulsed as more holy water was dripped onto one specific spot on his torso.

Several individuals in grey suits watched the Head of their Department bend slightly at the waist and speak to creature. “I’ll ask you again: where is the machine being built?”

“I-I...I don’t…know!”

“This is starting to get jolly tiresome and-” Rook was cut off by the quiet ringing of his phone. He checked to see who was calling; he had to ever since those three missed calls from Downing Street one afternoon.

‘N.M’ flashed on the small screen for the first time in months. In the past he would have left it to go to voicemail and then called her back when work allowed it. This time, however, he turned on his heel and left the room without hesitation.

“Hello?”

“Are you at work?” Natasha asked by way of greeting.

“Always.”

Muffled screams could still be heard in the background and he was surprised when she didn’t comment on it. Neither spoke for a moment as though they were waiting for the other to break. In the end Natasha’s impatience was greater.

“Can you come round?”

Rook looked back into the interrogation cell and weighed up his options. “Is…everything alright?”  
It was a ridiculous question given that she had not called him in so long - that they had not seen each other in even longer. Surely something was wrong for her to be calling now.

She sighed down the line. “Everything is fine.”

He didn’t believe her. In order to make sure none of his Department heard him, Rook walked away from the cell and lowered his voice. He couldn’t afford to be seen as anything other than his position.

“You have me concerned, Tasha.”

“I’m okay, really. I just- I need you to be my back-up…in case it all goes tits up. Please?” Her voice was steady and determined, enough so that he felt some of the tension in his spine drain away.

“Very well, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The vampire on the gurney was now crying wordlessly; too tired to struggle against his restraints. The member of staff who had been carrying out the ‘persuasive techniques’ shook his head as Rook re-entered the cell.

“He doesn’t know anything, Mr Rook.”

“Is that your final assessment on the matter?”

Each member of staff now carried a frown of annoyance and disappointment.

“Yes, Mr Rook.”

Rook nodded and took one final look at the crying, shaking mess before him. “Stake it and start with the next one.”

“Yes, Mr Rook.”

 

* * *

 

With a deep breath Rook knocked on Natasha’s front door. He had been inside her flat a number of times but not since she had started seeing Danny. Rook had met her boyfriend about six months ago and he had not met up with Natasha again in nearly five months.

He wasn’t overly worried. Natasha could look after herself, and just in case she couldn’t he had ways of checking up on her. She knew he had put her under surveillance several times since their first meeting all those years ago. She knew there was a file filled with photos of her and records of who she knew and where she went. In her teens she had made it into a game by buying new sim card once in a while or borrowing a friend’s phone and seeing how long it would take him to contact her.

Natasha had a tendency to make everything into a game.

The door opened suddenly and she was there.

Natasha’s hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and her face was bare of any make-up. She had made no attempt to hide the cut to her bottom lip or the bruising around it; in fact she had done the complete opposite.

“If you say ‘I told you so’ I will never speak to you again.” Her hands rested on her hips as she raised her chin up defiantly. There was nothing of the broken and defeated air his mother would have when she had sported similar marks.

Out of habit and instinct he started to compartmentalise everything and seal it away; any emotion or memory was nicely and orderly filed away to be dealt with later. The only expression on his face was one of polite blankness.

“That would be the very last thing I would say to you.”

“Good. Come in then, the kettle has just boiled.”

Rook followed her in and mentally noted the changes to her home. There was a slight crunch of broken glass beneath his feet and he clocked the crack in the pale yellow wall as though something heavy had been thrown at it. He saw the bin bag full of broken crockery and torn clothes, and he realised that all the photographs of her friends had been put away.

Without a word he took a seat at the very small dinner table and removed his pen and a leather note book. He waited for her to sit opposite him and slowly sip at her tea.

“Where is Danny right now?”

“Dominic…don't.” She sighed and massaged a temple absently.

“It was him, I take it? I don’t need to ask you for his location; I can find it quite simply without your help.” His pen was poised and ready to write. “Where is he?”

“I didn’t call you so you can beat him up...”

He blinked slowly and precisely at her words. “It’s my job to make unpleasant things go away. I’ll make it so you can pretend he never existed.”

“Stop it.” It was almost a whisper. The colour drained from her face.

“Stop what?”

“Stop acting like one of them.”

Them. That was how she referred to vampires – had done so since she was a child. It wasn’t her words that affected him but her face and the expression of fear he saw there. He took a deep breath and found it to be shaking.

“I apologise but you know full well the things I must be capable of in order to do my job – to be able to protect people and save lives. Please do not compare me to the undead, I find it highly insulting.”

Natasha shook her head. “You want to kill him. That’s not your job, Dominic.”

Rook sipped at his tea to give him a moment to collect his thoughts. He wanted to tell her that protecting her was his job, had been since the moment she climbed into his arms all those years ago.

Anger started to gather and cloud his mind. He should have said something to Danny at the very start, should have scared him off or involved the police; anything to get rid of him regardless of what Natasha had requested.

Rook pushed the anger down and sealed it away with everything else.

“Has he done this before?”

“No! This is the first and last time.”

“Very well, I could just have his hands removed. How does that sound?”

“You know I was going to offer you some biscuits but you’re starting to piss me off now!” Natasha slammed her cup down. “There will be no killing or mutilating of any kind, okay? I’m going to deal with this, not you.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Because…because I trust you and yeah, I need you here just in case.”

“There’s something else, isn’t there? Tasha, what’s been happening for the last few months – why have you distanced yourself from everyone?”

She sighed and sat back in her chair. Her arms crossed in a defensive manner and Rook almost spoke again to reassure her that he was in no way blaming her but she started to speak.

“He moved in with me and I thought it would just take a while for us to get settled but…he started asking all these questions about my friends and accusing me of stuff. He’d get annoyed if I got a call or text from someone and he wanted to check my phone and facebook all the time. It just got easier to not contact people and save us from having a row.”

“That’s why you didn’t call me back when I left a voicemail or text? I thought he was under the impression that you and I were related somewhat?”

“Danny said that I had him and that was all I needed.” She rolled her eyes.

“And you agreed?”

“Of course not but…I was tired of all the arguments. I kept thinking it would change – that he would change – but it didn’t happen, and then last night…”

“He did that.”

“I lost my job a week ago because Danny threatened my manager and last night he’s telling me that I wasn’t going to get another job – that I couldn’t be trusted with other men or my own money. Can you fucking believe the cheek of it? So I told him that I’d do whatever I wanted and he could piss off. Then I threw a lamp at the wall.”

That explained the broken glass and cracked wall then. Rook was familiar with Natasha’s temper and knew that you never ordered her to do something outright unless you wanted the opposite effect. He was strangely proud of her reaction and told her as such.

She blushed slightly and smiled. “Yeah well it got me a slap in the face, didn’t it?” She touched the cut tentatively and grimaced at the pain. “He was all apologetic after but then saying that it was my fault.”

“And today?”

“He went to work like nothing had happened and I packed all his stuff up. It's all in a few boxes for him to take. I’m going to kick him out when he gets back from work in...just over an hour.” She gave the clock on the wall a nervous glance.

Rook nodded and put away his pen and notebook. He wouldn’t deny her the chance to take control of the situation, especially after putting up with that prick for six months. That wasn’t to say though that he would be keeping his distance from Danny. No, once Natasha had done her bit then Rook was going to do his.

“So we have some time to kill then.”

She smiled but it wasn’t an entirely happy expression. “Tell me about work, how’s it going?”

“I can tell you but only if you’re prepared to bribe me with biscuits for the information.” He smiled ever so slightly as the woman opposite him laughed and grinned at him.

“I don’t have any but one of us could go to the shop and get some?” There was some eyelash batting and puppy dog eyes directed across the table at him.

“First you lie about having them then you ask me to go and buy them. Unbelievable.”

“I’ll make another cup of tea whilst you’re out. Please?”

Rook shook his head in exasperation before having an idea. He pulled a coin out of his pocket and held it up for her to see. “I’ll play you for it.”

“Fine. Heads, I always pick heads.”

“Why?” He got the coin ready.

“Because...actually don’t worry about why…” The coin went up in the air. “…it was just a blow job joke.”

Rook missed the coin as it came back down and bounced off the table. “For God’s sake, Tasha.” He muttered as he bent down to pick the coin up off the floor. She was laughing but at the same time holding her lip in pain. She got her breath back and made a show of slowly licking her lips.

He raised a pale eyebrow and ignored how the coin dug into his palm where his hand clenched tightly around it. “If you’re quite finished?”

Natasha huffed and slouched in her chair. “You’re no fun, Dominic.”

“Thank goodness.”

In the end he left and went to the shop just to have a chance to compose himself.

 

* * *

 

“…and since then Alan has been banned from bringing any food into the office.”

“You mean he’s not even allowed to bring in…I don’t know, a sodding banana?”

Rook pointed a half-eaten chocolate biscuit across the table and mock glared. “Not a thing. I will not run the risk of having to evacuate my department building again!”

Natasha’s flat was filled with the sound of her laughter as the two continued to wait for Danny to come home. In a much more relaxed mood, Rook allowed himself a warm smile as Natasha giggled and reached for another biscuit.

She sighed suddenly and stared at the table top. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you for so long.”

“It’s quite alright. You had enough on your place.”

“I’ve missed our chats.”

Rook had as well. He had missed hearing her laugh or even poking fun at him. She was really the only person he didn’t shut out completely, and now sitting with her here it occurred to him how closed off he was without her. There was no way for him to put that into words without his life sounding distressingly pathetic.

He looked up from his tea to find her watching him and waiting for him to say something. He took a large bite from a biscuit to excuse himself from speaking. Natasha shook her head and for a few seconds both were silent and uncomfortable.

“Sometimes I think our lives would be made easier if you and I just shacked up together.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

The statement came out of nowhere and it took every ounce of control and experience Rook possessed to not react. “Easier' is certainly not the word I would use.”

“It would be convenient though.”

“I think the word you are looking for is disorderly.”

“Maybe the word I'm looking for is boring.”

Rook looked up with a frown. “Boring?”

“Maybe...dull?”

“How about highly inappropriate?”

She didn't say anything right away, just relaxed back in to her chair and watched him. He watched her back with a blank expression fixed in place. He told himself he didn't want this conversation to continue but there was a curiosity at what she would say next. Rook would never admit it but he enjoyed this game.

Natasha opened her mouth to speak and he leaned forward ever so slightly in anticipation.

The sound of the front door slamming reverberated throughout the flat.

Danny was home.


End file.
